China's Hydrology: Challenges and Solutions

1. China’s Hydrology By George Lynch and Michael Burgess

2. History of China’s Hydrology • Chinese civilization originated in various regional centres along both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River • One of the first countries to control water supply with the building irrigation and flood control works

3. Lowest precipitation in the autonomous scarcely populated north-west region Highest precipitation in the east where many of the major cities are located

4. China’s Water Supply • 60% of China's 661 cities face seasonal water shortage • Over 100 cities have severe water constraints • Contamination of drinking water from faeces is a critical health problem in China causing diarrhea and viral hepatitis • 80% of these resources are in the South of China

5. More on China’s Water Supply • A recent survey by UNICEF found that in 11 provinces over half of all drinking water samples contained unacceptably high levels of bacteria • China's water resources include 2,711.5 cubic kilometers of mean annual run-off in its rivers and 828.8 cubic kilometers of groundwater recharge

6. Beijing 2008 Water Diversion • For the 2008 Summer Olympics, China diverted water from Hebei and Shanxi provinces, areas already beset by drought and dramatic water shortages, to Beijing • Beijing would divert up to 400 million cubic meters of water from Hebei for the Games with water-diversion facilities and pipes being built to pump water from four reservoirs in Hebei. • Around Baoding city alone, a mostly rural area, 31,000 residents lost land and their homes due to a water transfer project; many more have been displaced throughout Hebei

8. River Water Quality According to the State Environmental Protection Administration 60% of the country's rivers suffer from pollution. Here are the specific problems of the main rivers: • The Pearl River and the Yangtze River had "good water quality • The Songhua River was "slightly polluted" • The Liaohe River, the Huaihe River, and the Yellow River were "moderately polluted" • The Haihe River which flows through Beijing and Tianjin was "badly polluted".

9. Yangtze River • The longest river in Asia, and the third longest in the world. • It flows for 6,418 kilometres from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. • Along with the Yellow River, the Yangtze is the most important river in the history, culture and economy of China.

10. Yellow River • The second-longest river in and the sixth-longest in the world • The Yellow River is called "the cradle of Chinese civilization" • History of severe floods • There are frequent devastating floods so the river has earned the unenviable names "China's Sorrow" and "Scourge of the Sons of Han."

11. 2011 Floods • June to September 2011 • Central and southern parts of China • Killed at least 355 and cost nearly $6.5bn • 555,000 people evacuated across the Yangtze Basin • Flood control using reservoirs had to be operated along the Yellow River